Zardari may visit Peshawar today to discuss party affairs

PESHAWAR: In a last ditch effort to streamline party affairs, Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari may visit Peshawar today to discuss the prevailing situation and woo the senior leaders to play an active role in the upcoming election.

The senior party leaders including the former federal ministers Lal Mohammad Khan, Anwar Saifullah Khan, Khanzada Khan and others will be invited to meet Zardari at the residence of the party's provincial President Humayun Khan.

The party office-bearers said another important leader would be assigned to meet the dissidents if any change was made in the visit of the former president to Peshawar.

The PPP recently constituted a parliamentary board comprising Farhatullah Baber, Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, Rahimdad Khan, Syed Zahir Ali Shah, Humayun Khan, Faisal Karim Kundi, Akhundzada Chattan and Nighat Orakzai to interview the candidates who had applied for the party tickets.

But former provincial president Anwar Saifullah Khan, Khwaja Mohammad Khan Hoti, Lal Mohammad Khan, Aurangzeb Khan Hoti, Arbab Alamgir Khan and his wife Asma Alamgir and son Zarak Khan did not appear before the board as a mark of protest against the policies of the provincial leadership.

Some of the senior party leaders including Khwaja Muhammad Hoti, Arbab Alamgir and Asma Alamgir met Zardari at Karachi and apprised him of the prevailing situation in the party. Ignoring the recommendations of the parliamentary board, Zardari allotted three tickers to Arbab Alamgir, Asma Alamgir and Arbab Zarak to contest on the PPP ticket from Peshawar.

He had already committed party tickets to Khwaja Mohammad Khan, his son Farooq Khan Hoti and Aurangzeb Hoti to contest from their previous constituencies in their hometown Mardan. In the presence of parliamentary board members in Karachi, the central leadership also allotted the ticket to the widow of Abdul Akbar Khan from a provincial assembly seat from which Zeeshan Khanzada, the son of former senator Khanzada Khan, had also applied.

The supporters of Zeeshan Khanzada said that it was astonishing to note that the widow of Abdul Akbar Khan had applied for one of the reserved seats for women but some members of the board intentionally recommended her name for the general seat and created unrest among the workers.

There were reports that leaders of other parties were quick to offer ticket to Khanzada Khan to contest from Mardan. Khanzada Khan convened a meeting of his supporters to discuss the future line of action and those present at the meeting suggested him to join hands with PTI.

However, Khanzada was reluctant, saying he had spent 40 years in PPP and would not part ways with it only for the sake of party ticket. The supporters of Zeeshan Khanzada questioned the credibility of the parliamentary board, saying how a woman was brought on general seat despite the fact she had applied for reserved seats.

Considering it an insult, these activists threatened to join PTI. Later it was agreed to resolve the issue within the next few days.

The workers said wrong policies and wrangling within the party might harm the party's performance in the upcoming election. Only a few candidates in Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Haripur, Battagram, Bannu and Karak have applied for the PPP tickets. The party did not receive applications from many constituencies.